Interesting. Tivo's been hinting at this for quite some time but it looks like they're finally making the move. Looks like if you want a Tivo that you don't have to rent from your provider or one of their boxes with the Tivo software you'd better get 'em while they're hot. The good news is that I see the resale value of real Tivos getting better down the road.

This is rather shocking. I figured I would keep my Basic for quite a while, now I wonder if I should take the loss on resale and buy a Plus or Pro to future proof myself (and stave off having to get a cableco dvr). This makes the big discounts so soon after release more understandable.

This is likely to negatively impact resale values. As cmeinck notes, I worry for my Lifetime sub now too.

The great thing about where TiVo was headed (Roamio+TiVo mini), customers could cut their monthly carrier costs. I pay Verizon $5 a month now for one cable card. Companies like Verizon and Comcast aren't interested in lowering your fees. If anything, this will be a lesser version of TiVo at a premium price over standard DVR pricing. TiVo leaving hardware doesn't give them much leverage.

I hope they are around long enough, so that my lifetime service doesn't get impacted.

...they really need to reach out their subscribers with some kind of info instead of letting the media and rumor / speculation fill the information vacuum.

Cloud DVR is not viable for me due to data caps (they're probably coming) and the end of Net Neutrality, but, most of all, my desire for the speed, availability and control that is only possible with local storage.

I doubt Cablevision will partner with them since they are so invested in their cloud DVR, which has not received great user reviews.

When my Tivos eventually die, if Tivo has not lined up an independent HW vendor by then, I will probably move to Windows Media Center if it's still around or even ditch cable for satellite just to get local DVR storage....

So they are going to focus on the software. I can't say that's surprising really. The hardware has gotten to a fairly mature level these days and they can easily just get systems built by another company if they want more hardware.